Synopsis: The Red Skull defeats Captain America in 1941, but the super hero is thrown into suspended animation. Captain America is revived 50 years later to face the Red Skull one more time.
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Before the floodgates opened, with the ‘X-Men’ and ‘Spider-Man’ movies, superhero silver screen adventure were mostly misfires. There had been a few successes with the ‘Superman’ and ‘Batman’, but even they could only muster up a couple of hits a piece before spinning out of control. Meanwhile, all other superheroes movies were simply not taken seriously by producers, critics and audiences alike.
Case-in-point, 1990’s loose rendition of ‘Captain America’.
While most people would know it as a straight-to-video affair, it was actually slated for theatrical release two years prior. Problem is, it languished on the shelf and never made it out in cinemas, despite a minor marketing effort to coincide with the character’s 50th anniversary.
Would it have been successful had someone decided to take it seriously enough to release it? I very much doubt it!
For one, it looks and feels like a TV movie. I’ve seen enough low budget action films from that era and B-movies to immediately recognize a cheap production in my sleep. This is one of them. In fact, even when I first saw it, as a teenager, I could immediately tell it was going to stink.
It’s not a complete wash-out, but it certainly wouldn’t have helped to make a name for superhero movies at the box office – so I’m glad it was quietly released on VHS.
For starters, it’s B-O-R-I-N-G. Any “drama” feels flat and the humour (if it was intentionally supposed to be humour!) is lame as can be. Sure, they provided action sequences to try to make up for it, but it’s otherwise so dull that you can’t be bothered to care.
Secondly, the story partly revolves around some do-gooder kid becoming President of the ol’ USofA and then being kidnapped by the Red Skull. Seriously? The President can be kidnapped this easily? That, and NO ONE but Captain America can find him. And then Captain America and the President fight side-by-side to escape the clutches of the Red Skull and his goons. No joke.
Speaking of the Red Skull… without the assistance of CGI they obviously couldn’t do him properly (he doesn’t have a nose!). But did they have to make him look like someone had plunked down Play Doh on some guy’s head right before filming? Thankfully, the older version of the Red Skull looks better (I say older, because Captain America was trapped in ice for 50 years!), but only because he got plastic surgery and now looks like a heavily scarred middle-aged Mafioso. Really.
The film is full of ridiculous moments like Captain America being frozen in ice with his hand sticking out, only to be found in the same exact condition 50 years later and then defrosting faster than a Christmas Turkey and running off. He also tends to play tricks on people to steal their cars. Honestly. He pretends he’s going to be sick and asks the driver to stop. Then, when they come to see if he’s okay, he runs away and takes their vehicle. WTF?
Did I fail to mention that he has plastic ears? He does. Why make holes in his Playtex rubber suit for his REAL ears when you just have plastic ears on his mask? Captain America can bench press 1200 lbs, but is meant to have the hearing of two men? Sure looks like it! Wonders will never cease…
Captain America, who is seen mostly in his Steve Rogers persona throughout the film (you CAN have too much of a good thing, apparently!), is also the most bland character EVER. Whether he’s in his civilian or superhero guise, in this film he is basically the soda cracker of the Marvel Universe. He is exactly what I hated about the character (but that they managed to undo with the new film): you just can’t care about this guy because he leaves you emotionally impotent.
At least they got some of the action scenes more or less right. The key element is Captain America’s use of his shield. I wondered how they would manage to make it fly properly without CGI, but they pulled it off. Most of the scenes were at night, it should be noted, thereby masking the effects, but it was convincing enough. In fact, he used it more like in the comics than the recent adaptation did.
Beyond that, though, it’s all straight-to-video fare, and there’s really nothing noteworthy about it; it’s rather forgettable, actually. But is it a terrible movie? Granted, it’s a truly dull piece, but it’s hardly painful to watch (then again, I may be immune to this sort of thing. Having said this, it made the same impression that it did when I saw it 20 years ago – so this isn’t a case of being jaded in my old age)
Well, whatever the case may be, I can’t bring myself to give it a lower rating, despite not being a fan of the film or the original character. Perhaps I’m too forgiving?
thecriticaleye 